Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg Throws 5.0 Scoreless In 3rd Double-A Start.

The Washington Nationals' '09 no.1 overall Draft pick retired the first three Reading Phillies' hitters he faced in the third start of his professional career for the Double-A Harrisburg Senators this morning. A 10 pitch first for Strasburg saw the 21-year-old right-hander throw 7 strikes and 3 balls while inducing 2 groundouts with a pop-up in between as he made quick work of the opposition in the top of the frame...12 pitches in the second for Strasburg as he completes another 1-2-3 inning with 2 K's and a weak groundout. The third inning started with a backwards K on the Phillies' catcher, but the one hit of the game against Strasburg came in the next AB when Reading infielder Keoni De Renne dropped a line drive in short center for a single. Strasburg got the opposing pitcher Yohan Flande to pop out trying to bunt and had the third out of the frame when Senators' third baseman Adam Fox threw high to first to pull Harrisburg first baseman Chris Marrero off the bag, so Strasburg needed another groundout to complete his third scoreless frame. 

Sttrasburg got a called strike three for Strasburg's 5th K of the day from the first batter of the fourth, but a one-out walk put another runner on before Strasburg got a 6-4-3 DP to end his fourth scoreless frame. A groundout to third, another backwards K and a fly ball to center and Strasburg's through five dominant innings...and he's done. The Senators end the Nats' '09 no.1 overall pick's outing after 5.0 scoreless in which he throws 66 pitches, 47 for strikes (or 67, 48 depending on the source), gives up 1 H, 1 BB,  and 0 ER while recording six K's to leave Strasburg, according to Nats Insider''s Mark Zuckerman's post game Tweet (@markzuckerman), with: 12.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 BB (2.19 BB/9), 17 K's (12.41 K/9).

• Miss Strasburg's Start? The DC Faithful Were Listening...(Thanks to Dave from NatsNewsNetwork for helping with the thread. Check out his report on Strasburg's start HERE.)